BEST 2011 – Bugs

The 2011 BEST Robotics Game Theme was BUGS!

Below is a synopsis about the game:

On September 3, 2011, BEST Genetics, performed experiments on some genetically altered bugs and something went terribly wrong! These potentially hazardous bugs escaped! The bugs were traced to an abandoned shed near the laboratory on the BEST Genetics campus. These bugs could be dangerous to human health and the surrounding ecosystem. To be safe, BEST Genetics will not allow humans to capture these genetically altered bugs. Therefore, they must hire a company who can design and build a robot capable of recovering these feisty creatures.

At the TVBEST competition on October 15, 2011 our team took on the persona of a robotics company who wanted to be hired by BEST Genetics to recover those hazardous bugs. We not only recovered the bugs, but we also supplied them with food to keep them sustained until they were successfully delivered to BEST Genetics.

We had six weeks to build the robot, demonstrate its outstanding performance, and develop a successful marketing plan with which we tried to convince BEST Genetics we are the best company for the job!

Meet R.O.V.E.R!
(Robotic Observation Vehicle and Entomological Retriever)

R.O.V.E.R. was designed and built to be simple, flexible, strategic, and reliable.

Attributes of R.O.V.E.R. :

  • zero turn driving system for easy maneuverability
  • arm reach of 48 inches
  • effector that allows for recovery and on board storage of insects and food pelletseffector able to hold multiple insects at once
  • wheels capable of driving onto the SCA
We had a very successful day at the TVBEST Robotics Competition! See the following list of awards below:
  • 3rd Place for BEST Award (given to the top three teams of the day who have proven to be the best examples for conveying the mission of Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology)
  • 1st place – Oral Marketing Presentation
  • 1st place – Best Team Web Page Design
  • 3rd place – Most Robust Engine (this is for the teams that had to do the least repairs to the robot in between rounds)
  • 3rd place – Best Team T-shirt Design

In addition, the Toyota Leadership Award was given to ABS Trobotics coach Craig Adams, which is given to the teacher who best inspires “leadership, teamwork, respect for humanity and continuous improvement” in his or her BEST students.

We are now preparing to go Auburn to compete in South’s BEST regional competition on December 2nd and 3rd! We are so excited!
 
 We want to thank everyone who helped us over the past six weeks: Our Sponsors: AUVSI, McClary Tire, and SolidWorks, Head coach: Craig Adams, Mentors: John Sparks, Keith Stewart, Keith Olree, Scott Britnell, Keli Sparks, and Kimberly Harbin, Mr. Randy Adams, Coach Chris Duke, Mr. Norm Webb, Mrs. Barbara Jo Webb, Mrs. Burnetta Murrell, Mrs. Cathy Denton, Mrs. Tabatha Britnell, and our parents.

Click here to see the announcement on the ABS school website.

 

Trobotics, Inc. believes in  the importance of teaching others about BEST Robotics and STEM related activities. To do this, we plan outreach activities and events in which we showcase our BEST robot. These events and activities take place throughout our community, in other schools, and at our own school. We have been successful in generating interest and getting them involved with hands-on experience using science, technology, engineering, and math.
Another avenue for outreach is using our Local Media to get the word out about BEST Robotics, Inc. and Stem.
 
Click here to see the local media coverage of our team.
Below you can read about some of the outreach events and activities we have participated in during this year.

Outreach/Recruiting Event at ABS Orientation on 8/6/2011

On the evening of August 6, 2011, Athens Bible School invited students and parents in the doors after a long summer for the annual school orientation. Trobotics, Inc. took advantage of this get-together to recruit team members.They set up an outreach display in the cafeteria with information regarding their team and Best Robotics. Even more exciting, the team’s previous year’s robot was showcased, and visitors were allowed to test drive it. Most importantly, they invited guests to the signing day meeting, handing out recruiting questionaires and Best brochures.
SolidWorks Training Event at Calhoun Community College
08/20/2011
Trobotics, Inc. and NASWUG co-hosted the 2011 Formal SolidWorks Training Session and Advanced Q&A Sessions for Tennessee Valley BEST.
All TVBEST participants were invited to attend this training session free of charge. This event took place at Calhoun Community College on August 20, 2011.
The SolidWorks Training Session was taught by Ricky Jordan. Mr. Jordan is the President of the North Alabama SolidWorks User Group (NASWUG) in Huntsville, Alabama and currently holds the position of Senior Mechanical Design Engineer at Dynetics, Inc. in Huntsville, AL.
Members of NASWUG were also present to help the students as needed.
Students in the formal training session were given an introduction to SolidWorks and learned how to turn a sketch into a part. They also learned to make an assembly and drawings from their parts.
Many thanks goes out to TVBEST and Calhoun Community College for allowing us to use their facilities for this event.
We would also like to thank Mr. Jordan and the other members of NASWUG who made this event successful.
To see presentation slides from this event visit our Education page.
Wal-Mart Outreach Event on 8/27/2011
With about 138 million consumers visiting Wal-Mart each week, Trobotics, Inc. thought it intelligent to set up at this supercenter for an outreach event. Teammates stood at either end of the store, inquiring of those entering, “Would you like a BEST brochure?” or “Would you like to test drive our robot?” Team members that were not informing shoppers of BEST were showing off Hercules, last year’s robot, to interested comers who drove it themselves. That beautiful Saturday afternoon was a very successfu day for outreach. We hope to have encouraged citizens to study engineering, science, and technology and to get involved with BEST.
Outreach Event at Limestone County Career Technical Center on 09/21/2011 
On September 21, 2011, Ethan A., Tyler M., and Scott H. traveled to the Limestone County Career Technical Center to further the Outreach efforts for Trobotics, Inc. Forty-two middle/high school Gifted students from six Limestone County Schools were informed about the subject of BEST Robotics. There were also five teachers present that day. We also had a chance to showcase our 2010 robot, Hercules. They were so excited to take turns driving Hercules! They even published an article on their school website about our visit.

Trobotics, Inc. Interviewed by Jamie and Gloria Cooper on ZTV

 On September 29th, we appeared on ZTV and were interviewed by Jamie and Gloria Cooper. We hoped to inform their TV viewers about what it is like to participate in BEST Robotics competitions. We also took that opportunity to invite the TV audience to the TVBEST Game Day on October 15th. Hopefully we sparked some interest and spread the word about how much fun participating in activities dealing with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math can be.

Click here to see the video!

Trobotics, Inc. visits First Grade 
On October 11th, some of our team members taught a science lesson to Mrs. Sutton’s First Grade Class at ABS. We used Mrs. Sutton’s Smartboard to teach a lesson on Pushes and Pulls. They had so much fun with the interactive lesson. They even made an A+ on the review quiz! They were given a worksheet about pushes and pulls and we helped them make a robot paper craft. They all said they wanted to be on the robotics team when they get older!
We are going to try to schedule classroom visits to grades K-6 at least once a month.
Outreach Event at ABS Fall Festival – October 28, 2011
The ABS Fall Festival was a great avenue for Trobotics, Inc. to do some more Outreach! We set up the 2011 BUGS Playing Field and let Fall Festival Visitors take turns driving ROVER (Robotic Observation Vehicle and Entomological Retriever). We also took this opportunity to promote BEST Robotics and to invite others to go to South’s BEST Regional Robotics Competition in Auburn. Our goal is to load our ABS “Pickle Bus” up with 40 students who will cheer us on during the competition. We hope our “Fill the Pickle” campaign will be successful in getting students to attend this great event to show them what it is all about.

 

 

Our team tries really hard to get the word out about BEST Robotics, Inc. and STEM. One way to do this is through the local media. Please click on the links below to read articles or watch a video of our local media coverage.

 

 

Awards earned at Tennessee Valley BEST

1st Place – Best Engineering Notebook
1st Place – Game Day T-shirt
2nd Place – Most Robust Engine
3rd Place – Most Photogenic Robot